Sergeant Blake Gilmore has 29 years with the Massachusetts State Police and over 26 years as a member and team leader with the Underwater Recovery Unit. One of the things he is looking to accomplish with their Dive Team is to have 1st class team members, and he understands that there are several key factors that are needed for this to take place. “In-service training” and “redundancy” are extremely important elements in order to have the team ready and, more importantly, prepared for any event that they may be called upon to do, regardless of the environment – from limited to zero visibility, to clear water, from lakes or rivers, to harbors and bays that may, from time to time, include contaminated water.

Sergeant Gilmore not only wants to see this accomplished in Massachusetts but all over New England to ensure interoperability and for mutual aid reasons. The New England State Police Administrators Conference (N.E.S.P.A.C.) includes the New England states of Massachusetts, Maine, Vermont, Rhode Island and Connecticut. The New York State Police is also going to be working very closely with NESPAC to form a training program that will standardize training, tactics and procedures including standardized equipment.

The end goal is to having highly qualified, interoperable dive teams throughout the Northeast. To that goal, the teams have looked toward ERDi.

“There is no existing program like this now. ERDi’s training is serving as the backbone helping us develop the divers we need. With ERDi, we can do this at an efficient rate. Once completed with the five week NESPAC dive program we will have the necessary foundation to have our new divers be recognized as being members of a FEMA Type I capable Dive Team” stated Sergeant Gilmore.

Click here to learn more about how ERDI can help you and your PSD Team meet its training requirements and objectives or call 888.778.9073 or 207.729.4201.